In communities across the United States, groups like the Colorado Grain Chain and the Noble Grain Alliance are lobbying to promote heirloom grains, a class of pre-industrial plants that promise greater nutritional benefits—and bolder flavor—than modern monocropped wheat or corn. Yet to understand the value of these heirloom grains, you have to look back at the past century of American agriculture.

“It’s a chicken or the egg dilemma,” Esposito explains. “Growers want proof that there is market demand, but you can’t go to the market until you have a product. That’s why we started the Colorado Grain Chain—to facilitate relationships. If we can connect someone with a bagel company with someone growing heirloom grains, those individual contracts can help build the market.”